The Role of Definitions
Part 1: Consider the following definitions, given in the text as examples of lexical definitions that don’t adhere to the eight rules:
“Intelligence means whatever is measured by an IQ test.”
“Normal means an attribute possessed by people who are able to get on in the world.”
Write a post discussing the limitations of these definitions, including:
*Which of the eight rules do these definitions violate and how do they violate them?
*How does our basic communication and decision-making depend on definitions?
*How do these definitions underlie our assumptions about the world?
*What are some potential real-world outcomes of relying on these definitions to understand the meaning of “intelligence” or “normal”?
Part 2: Respond to two of your peers’ posts. Are there any other examples you can think of—from your own life or the lives of people you know—in which the use of these or similar definitions produced the outcomes your peer identified? What other definitions can you think of that underlie your assumptions about the world?
